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Protecting our children from burns
remains an important part of home safety. A 6 year
long study from the Department of Surgery at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, looked at causes
of pediatric burns and their outcomes.
The study included 449 pediatric burn
victims under the age of 16. The average was just
over 4 years and the ratio of male to female was roughly
2:1. Overall, there were 21 deaths, the majority of
which were children under age 4.
Children this young had a greater mortality risk -
particularly with burns of 30% or more of total body
surface area (TBSA). The most common cause of household
burns were scald burns for the 4
year and under age group. In older children, direct
flame was the foremost cause. Larger burn size (greater
TBSA) was the strongest predictor of death in these
cases. A large burn is considered to be at least 30%
of anyone's TBSA. Clearly, it is easier for a smaller
victim to sustain a larger TBSA burn, due to their
size.
Many experts in the field of injury
prevention have clear guidelines for parents to prevent
burns in the home and elsewhere. Some of them include:
- Turn the thermostat on your home water heater
down to 120 degrees F. OR have a plumber or babyproofing
expert, install (on a particular faucet head) a
device that will now allow the temperature beyond
a certain maximum heat.
- Be vigorous in the food preparation area when
it comes to allowing infants & children near
hot substances. Be sure to keep hot substances and
their containers away from the edge of a cooking
surface or counter top.
- Remind all those who might do childcare for you
to be vigilant in these areas as well.
- Be sure to have several functional
smoke detectors in your home or apartment. A recent
survey shows an alarming (no pun intended) number
of these home smoke detectors are either non functional
or have dead batteries, making them useless.
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